3Com has appointed Robert Mao as its new Chief Executive Officer.

3Com Corporation announced this week that the company’s Board of Directors has appointed Robert Mao as the new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Edgar Masri who is leaving the company.

Mao, 64, who was most recently 3Com Executive Vice President, Corporate Development from August 2006 to March 2007, and has worked in China for Nortel Networks, will oversee 4,000 employees in China, a growing market for 3Com’s switches, routers and other gear to help data networks run efficiently.

Chairman of 3Com’s Board of Directors, Eric Benhamou, said: “In addition to his 30 years in the global IT and telecommunications industry, Bob’s bi-cultural background, extensive business experience in Asia and fluency in Mandarin and English offer a rare set of skills that can bridge Chinese and western organizations.”

The company also announced that it has hired Ronald Sege as President and Chief Operating Officer and appointed him to the Board of Directors effective 30 April.

Sege, 51, most recently president and CEO of Tropos Networks, Inc., a wireless broadband network provider, will focus on 3Com’s operations outside China. He’ll work from the company headquarters in the Boston suburb of Marlborough, home to about 400 of the company’s global workforce of about 6,000.

“Having [Bob] based out of China and having an experienced leader of Ron’s caliber based in the United States will allow us to speed execution of our global business plan,” Benhamou added.

The management changes were announced after trading closed, with shares of 3Com up 4 cents at $2.34 (£1.18).